


Rain

by MarshmallowBoats



Series: Reaper76 childhood friends au [2]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Childhood Friends, Cute, Fluff, Kid!Gabriel Reyes, Kid!Jack Morrison, M/M, Reaper76 - Freeform, This au wouldn't let me go, Yup back again, childhood AU, smol beans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-11-03 21:02:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10975275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarshmallowBoats/pseuds/MarshmallowBoats
Summary: When faced with the reality of Jack's home life and his emotionally distant father, Gabriel takes matters into his own hands and decides he needs to show Jack the meaning of home.-Awwww yeah the childhood au no one asked for has become a series





	Rain

They were in the den, like always. Gabriel was reading a comic in spanish his Mama had given him and Jack was watering the plants with a beaten up plastic watering can they had salvaged from somebody's skip. "They're throwing it out anyway!" Gabriel had said when Jack had given him those wide, nervous eyes that showed he wasn't quite comfortable with what was going on. Since the Sunday he had sneaked away from church (and later got an earful for it from his Abuela) he and Jack had been firm friends, meeting up at the den every Saturday they could manage and sometimes Sundays too if Gabriel could sneak away from all his extended family for long enough. 

Jack was kind of strange, Gabriel had decided. He never seemed to get angry about anything. Even when Ana's shop had been closed and Gabriel couldn't get them ice-cream like he planned, Jack stayed happy and patted his arm, saying that it didn't matter really. Even when Gabriel had missed 3 whole weekends in a row Jack didn't seem to mind too much, he just ran up and gave him a big hug and that was that. Putting his comic down, Gabriel rolled his eyes over towards his friend, who was patting the ground tenderly with deep concentration and whispering a little under his breath.

"What are you doing?"

Jack looked up, face pink, "Uh-I...I was...Iwastalkingtotheflowers." He mumbled. 

Gabriel blinked, "What?"

He watched Jack shift and shrug his shoulders, "I was talking to the flowers."

Yep, definitely strange. But good strange. Gabriel grinned, "So they grow better?" 

Jack nodded.

Gabriel laughed until his stomach hurt, "You're loco! Crazy!" 

Red cheeks clashing brilliantly with the blue of his eyes, Jack hunched over his gardening a bit more. "Shut up!" 

"It's not bad though, I think I've heard people saying it helps too." Yeah it was a bit funny, but Gabriel didn't want to hurt his friend.

Jack's lips curved into a gracious smile. It seemed he was forgiven. Just then the air chilled around them, the sun vanishing behind thick grey clouds. Gabriel shivered in his hoodie, he should have listened to Mama when she told him to bring a jacket. They stayed a little while longer, with goosebumps running up and down their arms, until the first fat fingers of rain began to poke at their shoulders and heads. 

Jack tilted his face towards the sky and tugged on the sleeves of his flannel shirt, "It's raining.." He said.

Gabriel rolled his eyes and grabbed Jack's pale hands, "We need to find somewhere before it gets heavier!" 

Together they scrambled through the damp leaves and made it out to the road. The rain wasn't just a few drops anymore, it came hard and fast, in endless sheets that tore through Gabriel's jumper with ease and glued his jeans to his legs. He blinked water out of his eyes and kept a firm grip on Jack's hand.

"DO YOU KNOW WHERE WE CAN GO?" 

Jack hesitated, water running in rivulets from his hair and down his face. Finally, he nodded, "FOLLOW ME!" 

Gabriel figured they must be going to his house. He just didn't guess how big said house would be. Even with the rain obscuring his vision and dyeing everything shades of grey that merged with each other and blurred the edges  of objects, he could still make out scale of the building. Three stories it looked like, with tall windows and sandy-coloured stone. But even with all its height, and the fancy twisting bushes that stood guard outside the doors, it had an undeniable air of sadness that wasn't just caused by the rain. Jack pulled a little on his hand, stopping his gawping. 

"Come on..." He murmured.

He was guided, sopping wet into a hall with blank white walls and a line of shoes marching neatly side by side next to the door. Gabriel was used to his tiny entrance porch, overflowing with umbrellas and jackets and shoes that were too small and shoes that had holes and the smell of something spicy emanating from a warm kitchen. This place seemed...empty. And even though it was much better than outside, somehow cold. 

"Jack?" A man wandered into the hall, tall, with stone-grey eyes and blonde hair flattened into a neat side parting. He frowned, "I thought you were out for the day."

"I-I was...but it started raining so I came back."

Jack's dad looked at his son as if noticing the state of his clothes for the first time, "Ah yes so it is." His steely eyes honed in on Gabriel next, "And who's this?" Gabriel felt himself bristle at the tone.

"Gabriel- my friend- the one I told you about, remember?" 

"Nice to meet you." Gabriel said because Mama had drilled manners into him, even if this guy didn't seem to deserve it.

"Did you?" The man shrugged, "Well, you can sort you and your friend out. I have a call scheduled in the next 15 minutes so minimum noise levels please." 

Jack released a slow sigh as his dad disappeared again. Gabriel wasn't sure how quiet they were meant to be, but Jack wasn't doing much talking so he decided the best idea was probably to follow his lead and stay silent until they got to whichever room Jack was leading them to.

"Here." They stood, dripping onto clean white tiles. Jack passed him an equally blinding white towel. 

Like the hall, the bathroom was clinically neat with the only colour being a bar of grey-ish blue soap in a little dish. Jack was more subdued than Gabriel had ever seen him before. Now he was stretching up on his tiptoes, trying desperately to reach down more towels that were stacked right at the top of the cupboard. Gabriel was just about to offer to help him when suddenly Jack's  wet socks skidded out from below him and he fell to the floor with a crash.

"JACK!" Gabriel forgot to stay quiet.

His friend hissed and picked himself up, "I'm fine."

Gabriel tentatively passed him the towel back, unsure of what to say. "You should dry off. I'll get them." 

Jack shook his head, "But you're a guest!" 

Gabriel noticed the way they were both shivering and thought of the best solution. "Come here." He sat on the floor and patted beside him. Jack shuffled up to his side and he tucked the towel around them both. Yeah, they were still damp, but the towel and the warmth of Jack next to him was making him feel just a little bit better.

Jack snorted out a chuckle, "We can't stay here forever. We need dry clothes."

Gabriel shifted so Jack's shoulder wasn't stabbing into his chest so much. "Your dad's weird." He said. What he really wanted to say was 'I don't like him' but that was a bit too rude. 

"Jackie?" He prompted when he got no response.

"He's just....been different since mum died." Jack said quietly, "That's all." 

"When did she die?" 

"Two years ago."

Gabriel couldn't imagine his Mama dying. Just trying to picture it had him feeling like the floor was dropping out from under him and tears pickling at his eyes. Outside, the rain continued, and Gabriel let the drumming steady his heartbeat and settle his thoughts. His Mama wasn't dead, but Jack's was. It didn't seem fair really, that Jack- who talked to flowers to help them grow and had a smile for everyone and didn't even think stealing rubbish was ok- had to deal with it. 

Eventually they picked themselves off the floor and got dried off properly, taking it in turns to use the one towel. Jack lent him some of his own clothes: jeans and a shirt that was far too nice even for church. Gabriel watched in amazement as Jack put all their stuff in the dryer. 

"Can you read all the buttons?"

Jack shook his head, tongue poking out, "No, dad just showed me how to do it so I could on my own."

After that they were off again, venturing down a long corridor where the thundering of the rain was amplified by windows set into the ceiling. The storm roared and crashed against the glass, seeming to roll right into the house with every crescendo of wind. On the pristine carpet, cowering behind a doorway, was a colourful football in yellow and red. Jack frowned at it and picked it up, tossing it into the room they now entered. Gabriel felt something close to relief when finally he saw clutter and colour. It was Jack's room- it had to be- because every surface was crammed with objects. Random stuff, buttons, rocks, coloured bits of glass, marbles, string, twigs, a pink shoelace,  a collection of colourful yet smudged bouncy balls; everywhere Gabriel turned there was something different. 

His relief intensified when Jack beamed, "I collect treasures- interesting things- I find them all and bring them home!" He explained as he noticed Gabriel's gaze. 

"You're like a magpie Jackie." Gabriel chuckled as Jack pouted. It was good to see him relax properly. Ever since they had got into the house he had had a lingering tension about him. 

They messed about in Jack's room for a while until the rain stopped. Gabriel put down the hulk figurine that had an arm missing. Outside the clouds were beginning to clear up and it looked as though the rain might be gone for good. 

"I think I should go home now." He reached over and messed up Jack's neat blonde hair. His friend spluttered in protest.

"OK. " Jack grinned and went for Gabriel's curls, not that they could get much more unruly. 

Laughing and chatting they went back downstairs, picking up a bag of Gabriel's clothes on the way. Gabriel started leaving properly, off down the garden path. When he turned back though, Jack was impossibly small, swamped in the doorway of his house. Gabriel knew then what he needed to do. "JACK!" 

"YEAH?" 

"DO YOU WANT TO COME TO MY HOUSE NEXT SATURDAY?" 

Even from the garden gate Gabriel could make out the smile splitting Jack's face, "I'D LIKE THAT!" 

Jack pumped his arm enthusiastically and Gabriel returned the wave. Even though Gabriel knew his house wasn't as big or as fancy as Jack's, he knew that Jack needed a home. And if his home could be that place- well then Jack could have it.


End file.
